First car, need help/advice.

[apeZ]

Hi.

I'm looking to buy a first car, and was just wondering if you guys had any tips/advice?

I've been looking around on auto trader (other big sites?) at cars like the Ford Ka (1999-2002) because they are reasonably cheap to insure (age 20 male here), but are there others that I should look into as well?

My budget is probably £1000 or so, because I'd rather pay more than buy a really cheap car and have to worry about repairs, MOT etc. A lot of sub-£500 car deals seem too good to be true. My dad has been helping me look and he said to try and find one with a year's MOT and tax, otherwise that has to be factored into the cost. What about mileage?

I've not been through the whole 'buy a car' process before, so what actually happens? Is it better to buy from a used car dealer than a private seller? Do I need insurance to test drive cars? What sort of questions should I be asking/what should I be looking for? Do I pay there and then, and drive it away, or pick it up at a later date (due to insurance)?

Any cars that should be avoided, and if so why? Any general tips for a new driver (did intensive course and passed first time, also completed Pass Plus) that I should take onboard would be appreciated too.

Cheers.

 

[apeZ]

Both of those seem to be a lot more expensive to insure.

 

[apeZ]

How much more expensive is the focus to insure over the KA?

Examples:

2000 Ford KA2 £1313
2003 Ford KA £1414
2002 Ford Focus 1.6 ZETEC 3dr £1973
2001 Ford Focus 1.6 ZETEC 5dr £1757
1999 Ford Focus 1.6 LX 5dr £1672

Some more:

2000 Ford Fiesta 1.3 5dr £1425
1999 Ford Fiesta 1.25 LX 5dr £1431
1998 Ford Fiesta 1.25 ZETEC 5dr £1649
2001 Ford Fiesta 1.25 FREESTYLE 3dr £1730

 

[apeZ]

The Ford Ka is really terrible, but I found it was the cheapest to insure so I had one for a year when I first passed my test!

Is it REALLY that bad? Why? Enough to shell out an extra few hundred £ on insurance?

Isn't a 1.6L quite big for a new driver?

 

[apeZ]

Make sure you're tryinggg the usual tricks to reduce insurance such as adding your parents as named drivers for example.

£2000 to insure a 1.6 Focus at 20 for someone living in Kent seems somewhat on the steep side to me.

I've done everything I can to get the insurance reduced. Bear in mind that I only passed my test last month, and that specific 1.6 Focus is from 2002, so maybe that's why it's a bit higher. I'll have a look around though.

 

[apeZ]

that 2000 Fiesta is only £100 more than the KA! For that difference I wouldn't touch the KA

Have you looked at ~1999-2002 Astras? Was recently looking for a new car, and there were plenty of those under £1k and the insurance was dirt cheap for me.

Insurance seems to be in the £1700+ range for 1.4 and 1.6 1999 Astras

 

[apeZ]

Is there much of a difference between the Fiesta 1.25 and Fiesta 1.3 FINESSE? Very similar insurance costs. I really like those cars so might just have to keep my eyes open for a deal that has what I want.

Edit: I see the 1.25 has 15 more bhp, higher top speed and faster 1-60.

 

[apeZ]

Going to keep my eyes open for (ideally) a 2002 Fiesta 1.25 that is under £1k. I can insure that for around £1.2k after some fiddling around, which I'm pretty happy with!

Is there much of a difference between the different models? Freestyle, Zetec, LX etc?

 

[apeZ]

Try to find a Ghia if you can, if not, there should be plenty of Zetecs about. Avoid the 1.3 like the plague, awfully engine.

Okay. Don't worry, I don't plan on getting a 1.3. I'll keep an eye out for Ghia/Zetecs. What's the difference between them?

You need insurance for test driving private cars - dealers should have insurance that will cover you but its worth checking in case their insurers give them age limits etc.

At this price, personally I'd not be worried about whether its a private sale or a dealer. Its a bit of a gamble buying privately, but a lot of the garages that deal in <£1k cars will often be a nightmare to deal with if something does go wrong so you can't win unfortunately.

Okay, thanks!

 

[apeZ]

How do the 2002 1.4 Fiesta's compare to the 1.25 engine? The cars seem slightly more expensive, but insurance costs are around the same.

Looking at something like this, although the price is a little too steep for my tastes: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2002-02-F...?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item43b445d709&_uhb=1

 

[apeZ]

As for the trick with insurance, try adding only an older female driver (mums) to the policy, not the father. Adding just the father will reduce the policy cost, and adding the mother will reduce it further, however I have found for the last three years, simply having myself as the policy holder and my mum as a named driver has yielded the lowest prices.

I've tried this, but it doesn't seem to make a difference for me. Both my parents have pretty much identical histories (15 years+ no claims), but I appreciate the suggestion. I've got the insurance low enough that I'm happy with, and then when it actually comes to buying it, I'll have one more go at lowering it. Might be able to negotiate over the phone too, I'm not sure.

Those insurance costs seem quite high though, I assume you've only recently passed?

Passed mid-September, so yup.

As for cars, like others have said, the Fiesta would be worth the extra over the KA, and Focus then again worth more - provided it's not a complete wreck. Try a whole range of cars for insurance checks though! As much as I wanted a Fiesta when I first passed, I ended up getting a 1.4 306 (1999) which proved to be one of the cheapest things for me to insure! Three and a half years and 20k miles later it has given me it's first problem and it shouldn't cost the world to put right! Car owes me nothing really, and that was only £1200, probably worth £400 or so now!

Interesting point, maybe I'm getting a little tunnel vision on the Fiesta. It is a nice car though. I'm more than happy to pay a little more insurance wise if it means that I have a car I enjoy driving and some peace of mind.

Naturally I'm open to other suggestions, there's only so many Fiesta's being sold locally and I'm impatient!

 

[apeZ]

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...ew/postcode/ct27hs/page/1/radius/30?logcode=p

Any thoughts on this Ford Focus? Mileage is a bit high (or is it?) but the full service history and recent cambelt change is reassuring. I don't know how likely these are to go wrong or have issues with that sort of mileage.

 

[apeZ]

Also, how can I get insured to test drive cars? All the places I've looked at online ask for a minimum of 6 months license time, I've only had mine for two!

 

[apeZ]

Any thoughts on:

RENAULT CLIO Dynamique 1.2 16V 2004
RENAULT CLIO Dynamique 1.4 16V 2004
PEUGEOT 307 1.6 Rapier 16v 2002

Saw these three in person earlier and quite like the look of them. Reasonable insurance, low mileage etc, but I don't know an awful lot about the cars themselves.

 

[apeZ]

UPDATE!

So, after a month or two trying to find the right car, I was struggling to find Clios, Corsas, Fiestas or Focuses within my area that I liked and ticked all the boxes (low mileage, FSH, years MOT etc).

Then... we got a call from my aunt who had her 02 plate Fiat Punto 1.2 for sale. She had owned it from new and had all the documentation. At first I wasn't keen because I wanted something with a little more umph BUT... only 26k on the clock, FSH, years MOT with no advisories. Cheap as chips to insure too.







Pretty pleased with it for a first car I learnt to drive in a 1L car, so this already feels a little more powerful (even though it really isn't, relatively). It was probably smarter to get something like this while I ease into driving, can't imagine what the 1.6L Focuses would have been like! Only £950 too!

Off to take it for a longer spin on the motorways.